Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State said he was not afraid of joining the All Progressives Congress (APC), stressing that it is in the ruling party that he would realise the Ibom Deep Seaport project for the state.
Mr Eno stated this on Saturday at a ceremony to receive him into the ruling party.
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He thanked the people of the state for supporting him and promised to remain the governor for all, irrespective of his political alignment.
He said he was unafraid of the future and the “storms ahead”.
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“We are not afraid of joining the APC, for we know that with the APC we would realise our Ibom Deep Seaport. That is our plea. For over 30 years, Akwa Ibom has struggled to have a seaport, but today we are reassured that the federal government will help us to realise the seaport,” the governor said.
Several APC governors, including that of Lagos, Edo, Imo, Cross River, Ebonyi, Gombe, Ekiti, Jigawa, Ondo, Kogi, and Delta states, attended the event.
Vice President Kashim Shettima represented President Bola Tinubu at the ceremony.
Ibom Seaport
Conceived by then-Governor Victor Attah’s administration over 18 years ago, the Ibom Deep Seaport, covering 2,565 hectares of land, has yet to pass the paperwork and federal approval stages.
Governor Eno has made moves to revive the project, which, if completed and put to use, could create over 50,000 jobs. The commissioner in charge, Ini Ememobong, recently resigned from the administration after the governor announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.
Underscoring the importance of the seaport to his administration, Mr Eno put it forward as a single demand to the APC-led federal government, stressing that even if a terminal is realised, his defection would be justified.
“I believe President Tinubu, who is a man of his word, would honour us. Even if it is one terminal, this movement would have been justified,” he said, referring to his defection.
The governor said Akwa Ibom people are looking at the federal government as “the bride looks at the face of his bridegroom”.
He listed infrastructure built by his predecessors and said that he believes the Ibom Deep Seaport will be added to the state’s infrastructure list by the time he leaves office.
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Mr Eno appealed to the APC members in the state to close ranks and embrace peace and genuine reconciliation “so that we can work together and arise to renew the hope of our people.”
Shortly after his speech, he was received into the APC by the National Chairperson of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje. Mr Ganduje handed over the APC flag and a broom to the governor.
In his remarks, Mr Shettima, who represented President Tinubu at the event, assured Mr Eno that the APC is a family.
He thanked the governor for his decision to join the ruling party, but did not mention the governor’s request for the Ibom Deep Seaport.
Speaking earlier, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, welcomed Mr Eno to the party and described the event as a unification for Akwa Ibom.
Mr Eno was elected on the PDP platform in 2023 as the fourth governor of the state since the return of democracy in 1999. He is the first serving governor in the state to defect to another party, ending the 26-year rule of the PDP in the state.
